


Midnight Farm

by SolamenteCelia



Series: Skunk Maid Universe [3]
Category: Furry (Fandom)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:48:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26976127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolamenteCelia/pseuds/SolamenteCelia
Summary: A college student gets accepted for her dream internship, but things don’t always go how you want them to on Midnight Farm.
Series: Skunk Maid Universe [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652524
Kudos: 1





	1. The Call

The skunk rolled over in bed, unplugged her phone from its charger, and checked the notifications she’d gotten while she slept. Cecilia had been on summer break for less than a week at this point, so she was still recovering from all the late nights and early mornings back at university. And the form that recovery took was sleeping in until almost noon.

On her lock screen, below the clock which read “11:39 AM”, was a notification about a missed call. It was probably scam, she thought, but she decided to call it back anyway, just to be safe. She held her smartphone up to her ear and waited for the person—or robot—on the other end to pick up.

After the first couple rings, a familiar voice of Professor Jonathan answered. He was a kind, older professor from her university who was always approachable. “Ah, there is the student I’ve been waiting to hear from! I’ve got great news for you. Please come see me in my office as soon as you can.”

The girl looked down at the bedsheets she was extremely comfortable under. “…Are you sure you can’t just tell me the news over the phone, Professor?” she asked groggily.

“Ms. Jackson…” he paused for a moment, letting her know that he was being as patient as he could, “this is in regard to your internship. Please come to my office as soon as possible, or I’ll have to call up the next eager student.”

Cecilia gasped. “That… That means that I got it, right?!” she asked excitedly, sitting straight up in bed.

“It means that you have the first pick, and that is a big deal. But seeing as I have been waiting for a while now…” Cecilia knew he was mostly teasing, but she also knew that school rules would force the professor to go to the next student if the first choice didn’t show up.

“Oh, I-I’m on my way!” she exclaimed, jumping out of bed. “I’m at my parents’ house right now, but give me, like, thirty minutes to drive there?” She tore off her pajama pants as she started to change, still on the phone.

“Yes that is alright. Drive safe. As long as we make a decision before 2 p.m., the school won’t give us any issues.” He hung up and the line went dead, leaving Cecilia to get ready.

She was lucky that he hung up when he did, because right after the call ended, the girl tripped forward while hastily pulling on her pants, causing her to fall to the floor. Cursing, she got back up and finished getting dressed before rushing downstairs to grab a breakfast bar.

David Jackson, her father, was in the living room and watched as his girl ran around the corner to the kitchen. “Hey there, fluffy tail! Why all the running around?”

Cecilia’s Mother, Debra, was in the kitchen cleaning dishes. She gave her a smile as well, happy to see her so energetic so early.

“I gotta get to college,” she said so quickly that it was almost hard to understand her words. “Remember that internship I was telling you and mom about? I got it!”

“Oh, sweetie!” Debra gave her a firm hug. As a skunk herself, the two of them looked very similar, save that her mother had a few comfortable pounds on her from her cooking. Cecilia did, however, get her father’s more bushy, fluffy tail however.

“That’s great news!” David said as he walked in. “You do know that you’re going to have to stop sleeping in when you’re living on a farm, right?”

She chuckled, “Well, yeah, that’s kinda gonna suck. But I need to do this internship so I can graduate.” She walked over to the garage door. “Alright, I should really get going now.”

They both waved her off with a smile. The drive to the school felt long due to all that excitement that Cecilia was feeling. She pulled her car into the parking lot nearest the faculty center.

Her purse bouncing off her hip with each step she took, Cecilia hurried into the agricultural studies section of the building to find the head professor who’d called her.

Prof. Jonathan’s office door was open. He was sitting behind his small yet organized desk in the middle of typing something when he heard the skunk’s footsteps. He looked up at her with a small smile. “Good, that was quick! I’m glad to see you’re so eager.”

Panting slightly, she smiled back at him and walked into his office. She sat down in the chair across from his desk. “So, I seriously got it?”

“Yes, indeed! And you were my top choice, meaning you get to have the first pick out of all the internships! And I know you wanted to go to a farm, so…” He pulled out three plastic folders and handed them to her. “Take a look! I’m sure one of them will pique your interest.”

She took the folders and started flipping through the one on top first. She hadn’t realized she’d have so many choices.

All three choices involved farms, but they varied from a huge farm run by a large corporation, to a city-based farm that was trying to show how crops could be grown in the city with adjustments to plants’ DNA, to, lastly, a small, traditional farm outside the city. The last one was run by a single horse, something rare in the modern farming scene. It promised lots of hands-on experience as well as fresh food and comfortable living. It only allowed one intern at a time.

The folder on the bottom stood out to Cecilia the most. She was a little uneasy at first seeing that, if she chose this farm, it would just be her and the man alone on an isolated farm. But then she remembered that she carried two dispensers of chemical weaponry on her at all times. So long as he had a sense of smell, she figured she wouldn’t need to worry. Besides, from the pictures she saw of the man in the folder, he seemed like a nice guy anyway.

After a few minutes of looking through all the folders, she decided that she definitely didn’t want to work for a big corporation and she didn’t want to stay in the city. “I like this one,” she said, handing the bottom folder back to Prof. Jonathan and setting the other two on the desk.

He nodded, taking it back and opening it to the last page. He signed his name at the bottom of the form before handing it back to the girl. “Go ahead and sign there too, and you can keep that folder to study. It also has Maxis’s number at the bottom if you wish to call in advance. I think you’re going to quite enjoy it out in the countryside, Ms. Jackson.”

“Thank you so much, Professor!” she said, the folder now back in her hands. “I’m so thankful you gave me the first pick here." The skunk stood up.

He smiled. “I could tell from your other papers that you deserved this chance. Now, enjoy your next few days off, and on Sunday you will be off to Midnight Farm. Sound good?”

“Midnight, huh…” She looked down into the folder she was given. “Huh, so that’s seriously his last name… Is this a warning sign or something?” she bantered.

“Not as far as I know. It just happens to be the man’s last name. Long ago, equines were given powerful or exotic names by the humans that owned and bred them. The first Midnight was a freed slave, you see, and the family still keeps the last name out of respect.” The old man took his seat and sipped on some water to relax his throat.

“Ooh…” Cecilia said, previously unaware of that part of history, “I see now. Makes sense, since so much of his fur is black in this picture. Hey, by the way, Professor, should I just ask my parents to drop me off there?”

“The university is more than willing to drive you if you wish, but parents are as well. I’ve even heard that Mr. Midnight will sometimes even drive students out himself. So, really, the choice is yours. But please let me know by this weekend so I can arrange something if need be.”

She nodded. “I will. I’ll check with my parents and call you back with my decision.” She started towards the door. “Thank you, Professor!”

“Of course, of course. Enjoy the rest of your day.” He nodded and began to type again on his computer.

Folder in hand, Cecilia left his office. It was Wednesday, so she would have plenty of time to make plans as well as pack or buy anything she would need for the trip. Cecilia drove back home. Though she drove back home more slowly since she was no longer in a hurry, she still felt far shorter than the drive to campus.

Stepping inside her home, Cecilia hung up her car keys on the key rack and looked around the house for her parents. She couldn't wait to tell them the good news.

Her parents were sitting in the living room watching a movie. As soon as she walked in, they turned to look at her, both apparently eager to hear all about the internship. They immediately told the girl to sit in the chair beside the couch so they could talk. “Ok, tell us all about what you picked!” Debbie said, very excited. She was always so supportive and interested in her daughter’s college choices.

Cecilia set the folder the professor gave her down on the coffee table. “I’m actually really excited about this!” she told her mom and dad. “It’s this big farm all owned by just this one guy.” She pulled out his picture to show them. “I know, sounds dangerous, but apparently multiple students before me have interned with him and had good experiences, so no need to worry.”

Her parents gave each other a look and then at the picture of the stallion. “So, honey, what about the farm are you interested in? As opposed to all the other choices, I mean,” her mom asked, clearly wanting to make sure she had good reasons as well as intentions.

“Well, the other two just didn’t seem as fun,” she told them honestly. “I applied for this internship so I could go work and live on a real farm, not one of those mega-corporation farms or those hipster city farms. That’s exactly what my other two choices were, by the way. This one just seemed the most genuine, if that makes any sense.”

“No, no, it does.” David gave a small pat on Debbie’s shoulder. “She’ll be fine. She knows how to take care of herself, and it isn’t like the school wouldn’t look into this guy first. When do you have to head out?”

“This weekend…” she said slowly, looking for a certain slip of paper. “Here it is… Yeah, I need to be dropped off there late this Sunday. I looked up the address in my car before I started driving back home, and it’s gonna be a three-hour drive. Are either of you free to drive six hours this Sunday? If not, the professor said he can take me.”

Cecilia’s father’s smile got a bit bigger. “Yeah, I’m free Sunday.” He looked a bit more at ease knowing that he would know the place his daughter would be.

With the worry out of the way, the rest of the night flew by. Debra made dinner and they all had a nice family meal. With only a few more days home on break, every night they had a wonderful home-cooked meal and spent a bit more time together as a family.

David and Cecilia spent much of Saturday at the store shopping for clothes and the recommended items that were listed in the folder. These included things such as work gloves, clothes for working outdoors, as well as clothes that she wouldn’t mind getting ruined. Tools would be provided by the farm, but David did buy Cecillia a pocket knife anyway. Afterwards, he had a private talk with her on the way home from the store. He said that while he trusted her completely, individuals have been known to get carried away and that having protection was smart. He also reminded his daughter that, even though the world had changed in wonderful ways since he was a kid, there were still plenty of humans that thought that skunks ought to be maids and that they could be unyielding in their beliefs. After Cecilia had promised him dozens of times that she would be safe, her dad finally left it alone.

Saturday night finally arrived and Cecilia sat on her bed with all the contents of the folder spread out in front of her. Always thorough, she was ticking off (and occasionally poking holes through the paper as they had no hard backing) every single point on each of the dozen or so sheets of paper just to make sure she had and knew everything that she needed. As she got to the last page, the one that had all the relevant contact details on it, she paused as she glanced over the farmer’s phone number.

She’d intentionally been putting off calling the man until the very last night, as she figured that would be the most fitting time to finally introduce herself. She picked up her phone and swiped over to the seldom-used phone app, glanced between the sheet and her own device as she copied down the number, then hit the green “Dial” button at the bottom of the screen.

_ Ring… Ring… Ring… _

_ Ring… Ring… Ring… _

The phone kept ringing for almost a minute. Cecilia was close to hanging up when finally it stopped. There was a bit of an exhaled huff on the other end of the line. It sounded not agitated, but more surprised to be getting a call. A low, accented voice said, “Midnight Farm… Maxis speaking.”

“Hi, Mr. Midnight?” the student said. “I’m Cecilia Jackson, and, um, I’m gonna be driving down to your farm tomorrow! I’m on that agricultural internship program, the one with UY. I just wanted to quickly introduce myself before we meet tomorrow!”

“Oh, well… I appreciate the call in advance, ma’am. Odd timing, I was just getting your room cleaned up for you. I’m happy to say I’m all set for your arrival. Since you’ll be here tomorrow, would ya be needing some supper, or will you be arriving just before you head to bed?” He spoke calmly and slowly, as if he were choosing every word. He talked like he had something like gum in his mouth, but it was impossible to tell over the phone.

“Oh, my dad said he can leave here at one, so we should be getting there around six. If you’d like to make me dinner, that would be super kind of you, but I can just as easily pick up some fast food on the way there that I’ll have to eat.”

There was a bit of a scoff that Maxis hid as clearing his throat. “I’ll make supper. None of those fast food places are close to us anyhow.”

Cecilia heard a new voice cut in for a second but couldn’t make out any words. Max then replied with a slight huff. “Apologies, my associate has asked for my help. I am happy to make your acquaintance tomorrow at six, Ms. Jackson.”

“No worries,” she said in response to his needing to tend to other matters. “Yeah, I’ll see you then! Ok, bye.”

“G’night,” he said before he hung up the phone and the call ended.

The skunk smiled a bit to herself after she hung up the phone. He seemed like a real, sweet, country gentleman. She suspected he’d be just as pleasant in person.

Comforted now by her knowledge that he sounded just as good as a guy as she thought he’d be, she checked off the last piece of paper from her internship folder, stacked up all the sheets, then put them all back in their home. Shortly after, she turned off her bedroom lights and lied down to sleep.


	2. The Farm

Sunday afternoon was a blur of eating lunch, loading the car, and then exchanging goodbyes. Her mom was acting emotional and doting on her that whole morning as she looked over her daughter’s clothes to make sure they weren’t revealing in any way. Finally, 3 p.m. came around, and then Cecilia and her dad were off.

They lived in the middle of the suburbs, so it took an hour of driving before their cell signal finally gave out, but the land was beautiful and you could see several farms already and fields ready to be plowed.

Some time shortly after she lost signal and she could no longer text her friends goodbye, the girl fell asleep in the passenger seat of her father’s car. Perhaps she was already starting to miss her habit of sleeping until midday.

When she woke up more than an hour later, all she saw out the window were fields of crops. The only ones she could recognize were maize, as she knew their stalks to be particularly tall and recognizable. All fields of crops that didn’t match those traits were completely foreign to the girl. They could be growing alien eggs and she probably wouldn’t know.

Yawning and rubbing her eyes, she looked over at her dad. “How much longer?” she asked.

“Actually, we’re getting close! Maybe half an hour more.” Her dad wasn’t a farmer by any means, but he was fond of nature and was enjoying this drive a great deal.

Still a ways out from the farm, Cecilia caught sight of a massive farm full of human farmers. The stares that the closest ones gave the female skunk were creepy to say the least. Cecilia saw her dad’s tail twitch slightly as he drove, pressing on the gas a little. He mumbled something that was too soft to hear, but she knew it wasn’t something pleasant. “People like them make me nervous…” he said a little more loudly to her. “Please always be careful, ok?”

“Dad, I’ll be fine,” she told him. “They live in the country, so I’m sure they see the occasional bestial skunk at night. They’ll know not to mess with me.”

“You’re probably right… Sorry, just hate those looks they give us.”

The rest of the drive was very smooth. There was a small sign before a turn onto a dirt road. It had a silhouette of a bestial horse with the word “Midnight” under it.

“This must be the place!” Cecilia said excitedly, sitting up straight in her seat. She bit her lip some as she looked around in all directions to see what kind of lifestyle awaited her here.

There was a small shack beside the gate that would lead them to the farm. Someone inside it was moving. Soon enough, a tall wolf walked out. He wore a big, leather coat and a utility belt around his waist which there was clearly a handgun attached to. He walked up with a thin cigar in his fingers, went to the passenger-side window, and knocked twice.

The girl was confused as to why it wasn’t the horse himself who had come out to greet her. She presumed this must be the voice that had called him away from the phone the previous night.

Pressing down on the button in her side’s car door, Cecilia rolled the window down but was careful only to take it to about halfway. “Hello,” she said, a bit uncertain.

The wolf sniffed and nodded at both of the occupants before holding out his hand. “Gots da paper? Internship paper, I mean.” His voice was almost a growl. It made a primal part of Cecilia’s brain shudder, though she couldn’t understand why.

She took a second to process his words before it clicked for her. “Oh! Yeah, um, I do!” She reached under her seat and withdrew the folder. After flipping through the papers for a second, she handed the one signed by Professor Jonathan to the wolf. “Here you are,” she said.

He took it surprisingly gently and looked it over. “Did you bring any weapons, alcohol, drugs, or… anything not school approved with you to the farm? Please don’t lie; I will know.” He only looked up for a second as he continued to read the paper painfully slowly.

She shook her head, momentarily forgetting about the pocket knife she had in her jeans pocket. “No, I didn’t. Well, I brought some allergy medication just in case I have a reaction to anything on the farm. But besides that, no.”

The wolf’s ears twitched just slightly as he looked back at you. The way his ears twitched seemed to line up to her heart beat. The wolf nodded with a smirk. “Heh, here I was thinking college girls were into drinking…” He glanced past Cecilia to her dad as he handed the paper back. “I’ll open the gate for you, sir. Just go straight and you won’t have no issues.”

Cecilia’s father politely nodded back. He watched as the wolf walked over and swung the gate open before waving them through. “A… guard? Hmm, nice to know I suppose!” David said with a dry chuckle.

“And a wolf, no less,” Cecilia added after rolling up her window again. “And you thought you had to worry about my safety, Dad…”

“Yes… A male wolf.”

“Dad…” Cecilia groaned, not fond of his bigotry against wolves.

“I’m sure he’s… fine! Hey, look at that farm, though!” Her dad said, his emotions turning positive as the farmhouse came into view. It was a large, two-story house with a massive barn in the back. It looked like it was straight out of a movie set in the old west. Standing on the porch in a flannel shirt and khaki shorts was her host, Maxis the horse.

“That’s him!” the girl exclaimed, immediately recognizing the horse from his photo. She unbuckled her seatbelt, waited for the car to come to a stop in front of the farmhouse, then jumped out of the car before her father could even kill the engine.

“Hi, Mr. Midnight!” the skunk called, speedily walking closer to him. “It’s so great to finally meet you.” She heard the driver-side door close as her father got out. “That’s my dad,” she told him, as if the fact that she was pointing to a male skunk thirty years her senior didn’t make that obvious enough.

“I see that, youngin,” the horse said, not hiding a chuckle as he walked off the porch to greet her. He was easily seven feet tall, so he had to lean over slightly to shake both the visitors’ hands. “Thank you fer driving her here to my farm, Mr. Jackson. And thank you, girl, for coming here for your internship. I expect a great deal, but I’ll help every step of the way.”

David just sort of stared at the gentle giant before he smiled and nodded. “No big deal at all. You have a lovely farm, sir.”

Cecilia nodded in agreement with her father. “Yeah, you do! And the internship description said you raise, what, three kinds of animals here, right? I think that’s what I’m most excited about.”

“Yeah? Well, that we do, li’l miss. We have chickens, cows, and pigs. We do grow soybeans and corn, too, but we will be focusing on them beasties mostly.” He glanced at David. “Is yer father staying for dinner, or shall he be heading out on his trip home.”

David looked at Cecilia to get her opinion not wanting to overstep anything.

She looked to her father for a second, then back at the horse. “Nah, he’s just here to drop me and my stuff off,” Cecilia told the farmer. “I only told you that I’d be eating with you, so I’m sure you didn’t make enough for the two of us anyway.”

Her father just nodded and smiled as he opened the trunk and started to pull out her bags.

“I made something for whoever the driver was, and it being your father makes it all the better. Stay right here.” Maxis stepped inside for a second before coming out with a massive glass tray that smelled delicious. “Made ya some cornbread. Please take it and enjoy. Then, at the end of the internship, we can trade your daughter for my tray.” He and the skunk laughed together.

David took the tray of food—which could easily last him and his wife a week—and said, “You are a very kind gentleman! I appreciate the gesture.”

Max nodded and scooped up all of Cecilia bags like it was nothing. “Say your goodbyes. I’ll bring your things inside, yeah?” He didn’t wait for an answer, instead just turning around and heading inside.

The girl turned to her father once Maxis was back inside. “See you in a couple months,” she told him curtly, a small smirk on her face to hide the fact that she’d actually miss home a fair bit.

Her father quickly moved in and gave her a hug. “Call if anything happens, ok? I’ll drive down right away if you ask.”

She pulled out her phone to check her reception. “I don’t have any service out here, but I’m sure he’ll let me use his landline.” Cecilia tucked her phone back into her pocket. “Don’t worry though, I’m sure nothing bad will happen.”

“You’re my daughter, hon. It’s part of my job to worry… But I’ll try. I’ll get out of here so you can begin your fun, new experience.” He smiled and walked around to the driver’s side and got in. He gave a little honk at Cecilia before backing out and driving off down the road. The girl waved her father off until he was out of sight, then headed inside to look for Maxis.

Cecilia walked up the few steps of the porch and headed into the house. It was quite lovely, especially for a farmhouse. It was clean and decorated with pictures and paintings, some of which looked to be done by either Maxis or other interns in the past. Heavy footsteps came down a set of stairs somewhere around a corner past the small dining room. “Cecilia, was it? I take it your pa has left?”

“Yep, he just did,” she told him. She had her black hair now tied up in a ponytail. “Did you wanna have dinner now?”

“Sure, sure. Take a seat at the table right there and I’ll bring in the food.” He gestured to a seat at the table in the dining room. There were already bread rolls with butter set out, as well as plates and thick, cloth napkins. A glass pitcher filled with sweet tea and ice was next to three glasses.

He came out with a massive crockpot of some stew. It was filled with beef, potatoes, carrots and a half-dozen other vegetables that made the entire room smell delicious. He made Cecilia a bowl first before making himself one and sitting down to eat. “Well I’m sure you have lots of questions and interests and all that, so why don’tcha ask away now? I’m happy to tell you anything!”

“Sounds great,” she said, “and the same goes for me! If you’ve got anything you’d like to ask me, I’m happy to answer as well.” She inhaled deeply, smelling the stew. “Mmm, this smells delicious!”

“Farm fresh! Only good way to have food, if ya ask us,” he said with a chuckle. Maxis ate in small bites, keeping his eyes mostly on the student to make sure she was enjoying the meal. “So, routine will start next week. I like to give the interns a week to just get used to things here and feel comfortable. But starting next Sunday, you’ll be waking up by six. We get an early start on the farm so we have time in the evening to relax.”

She nodded. “Even though I’m not waking up so early, you’ll let me help out around the place, right? I’d hate to just sit around while you do all the work.” She took a bite of her stew and smiled.

“Oh, of course! First though, why don’t you tell me about the paper you have to write at the end of this? It’ll help me understand why you picked my farm.” He picked up a roll and ate it in one quick bite, aided no doubt by his long face.

She nodded and took a few seconds to chew what she had in her mouth. “Well,” she said, “it’s pretty open-ended. The only specifications are that it has to be at least ten pages, and it has to be about what daily life is as a farmer in the modern day—you know, struggles, hopes, motivations, all that.”

“Hmm, mhm,” he hummed, chewing and pushing his almost empty bowl aside slightly. “Well, why did you pick my li’l farm then?”

She didn’t want to simply say that it looked better than the two boring-looking options she had. “I just really liked the look of it,” the skunk said. “When I first applied for this internship, I was hoping that I’d be going somewhere a bit further out in the country, and one that was owned by, like, a real person or family, and not just some company. And, well, that’s exactly what your farm looked to be.”

“Well, you’re right that it is just one family. And a one-man family at that. Well, besides Hunter. That’s the wolf you met. We go way back, and you don’t have to worry about him.” He paused to drink some tea, taking a look out the window.

“Oh!” she said, misconstruing what the horse meant. “He’s, like, um, your partner?”   


“Uh… He’s… an old friend that had a hard time adjusting to life, so I made him the guard of the farm. Which we unfortunately need…”   


“Oh… So, nothing romantic between you two or anything?” She was so hell-bent on finding out whether he was gay that she totally overlooked the horse’s cryptic words regarding the security of the farm.   


“Yeah, Midnight, am I your secret lover?” The voice was a half-laughing growl of the wolf Cecilia had met at the gate. He had apparently gotten into the house so silently that neither of the others had noticed. He walked to an open chair and started to make a bowl of stew for himself.

Maxis rolled his eyes. “Shut up, ya mutt. And no, Ms. Jackson. We aren’t gay. We served together back when my pa and ma ran the farm.”   


“Oh, well, thank you both for your service.” The girl wasn’t sure she liked the fact that Hunter could seemingly sneak up out of nowhere. She then reminded herself that she didn’t need to be so untrusting of the people here. She was not her father!

“So, how come you guys need a guard on the front entrance to the farm?” she finally asked. She was almost done with her stew by this point.   


“Cuz there are a few beastie predators around, as well as some… rude, nosy humans.” Hunter said as he started to eat. His table manners weren’t as civilized as Maxis’s. He showed off his teeth in every bite, something that could be considered rude or even a sign of aggression to others.

“Cecilia, I can assure you it’s not as bad as it seems. But, for our kind, there are and probably always will be humans who think they are better than us. Some of the nearby farms wish that my family’s farm was a part of theirs, and sometimes we have disagreements, but nothing that we haven’t been able to settle with words.”   


She nodded. “I think I know that feeling. But I’m glad you two seem so nice.”

“We appreciate that you think so.” The horse said with a smile. He looked happy to have her there, When Hunter didn’t echo the sentiment, Max gave the wolf a quick glare. Finally he simply gave a grunt and a nod. “Now that you’ve had dinner,” Maxis said, “want me to show you to your room?”   


“Sure,” she said, “but would you like me to clean my bowl first?” She stood up, her tail unfurling behind her.   


He nodded with a rather pleased smile. “I’d appreciate that. It’d be nice not to have to do  _ all _ the dishes ’round here,” he said, giving Hunter a grin. Hunter, for his part, didn’t seem to care and he helped himself to a second bowl with a grunt.

Max led Cecilia into the next room over, the kitchen. Everything looked old, but in a good way—the way that meant tools lasted long and the user got good use out of them. The stove and oven, however, were relatively modern and maintained well.

Max gestured to the sink and set his bowl in. He cleaned it for a good thirty seconds, showing Cecilia how it was done, then stepped aside to hand dry it as he let the girl wash her bowl.   


Cecilia started to clean her bowl just as the farmer did. She had an automatic dishwasher at home, so she was used to quickly washing off a bowl before putting it in there. Because she knew she was the guest here, however, she put extra care into washing her bowl as thoroughly as Maxis washed his.

“So, um, what will be my responsibilities tomorrow?” she asked, glancing up at the man for just a second. She waited until the horse was drying his dish before she shut off the water and took the dish towel from him.   


He put away his bowl while she dried her own. “Well, you said you like animals yeah? We can start with animal feeding, cleaning, and grooming. Have you ever cared for an animal?”   


“I had a dog when I was younger,” she chuckled. “Does that count?”   


“Sure, sure, same thing. Just gotta be gentle with ’em and take care of them, and they will take care of you. I usually tend to the cows first thing, so we can do that when you wake up. Sound good?” He took the bowl from her hands, which was when Cecilia noticed just how much larger his hands were than hers.   


“Sounds great!” she told him with a wide smile. “What does taking care of the cows usually entail? Like, are we gonna milk them?”   


“Yes, indeed! These ones we do daily. We have four of them, and we get to sell a lot of milk to the market. One cow is typically good enough to pay for the two of us living here.” He seemed happy that Cecilia was so eager.

Maxis had the girl follow him up the staircase. There were several doors in the long, L-shaped hallway, but he was taking her to the last one at the end of the hall. He opened it to reveal her cozy bedroom. It had a massive bed with quilts draped all over it. In a corner was a desk covered with papers as well as an old desktop computer desktop. There were a few bookshelves along the walls as well.

“Now we do have a computer you can use,” he said. “Best way to reach out to people besides the landline, really. All I ask is you only use it at night, if possible. When you’re out of the room there’s always something to do on a farm!”   


“I totally understand, sir,” she said with an eager smile. “I’m on this internship to work for you, after all. I wouldn’t dream of slacking off.” Perhaps she was starting to sound like her maid ancestors, but she didn’t feel wrong about it. After all, this really was the reason she was there.   


“Good to hear, young miss.” Standing in the hallway, he went to shut the door when he added, “My room is down the hall—the one with double doors. Anything happens, don’t hesitate to wake me, alright? Welcome to my farm.” He smiled and shut the door quietly.   


“Thank you!” She nodded as the door was shut.

The skunk climbed onto the bed and instinctively pulled out her phone. She was shocked at first when she saw that she had zero notifications, but then saw the signal bar at the top of her screen. This was going to take some getting used to, she thought as she just powered her phone off completely and set it on the nightstand.   


As she lay in bed and looked at her surroundings, she saw that the room had a bookshelf with dozens of books, journals, and farming guides. The computer was on, filling the room with a soft, electronic humming. Outside the window, she could hear some of the animals making noise.   


When she’d gone a few minutes without yet falling asleep, Cecilia tried looking out the window for a while. Though she couldn’t see any animals from her room since they were all on the other side of the barn or out of her sight for other reasons, she did see occasional movement from the edges of the tall grass that surrounded the farm’s plot of land. Perhaps a bestial skunk, she thought to herself. It wasn’t inconceivable, as the sun had already gone down.   


Footsteps could be heard descending from the porch and walking off towards the barn. As the man stepped into her view, Cecilia could see that it was Hunter. He stopped out in the open, glanced around for a second, then pulled out a cigar. He lit and smoked it all while looking up at the moon. For a moment she wondered if the odd wolf was actually going to howl, but instead he just sighed and walked to the barn. A dim light that flickered as coming from an oil lamp came to life from inside the structure, but Cecilia couldn’t see anything else from her vantage point.   


Something had felt off about the wolf ever since she first saw him. From how close he stood to her car window when she and her father first arrived, to his wordless grunts at dinner, Hunter just seemed strange. She decided to watch out the window for the next few minutes just to see if he got up to anything else.   


Minutes went by and there was nothing. Cecilia adjusted her angle to see what all was visible from her bedroom window. She was able to catch just glimpses of the cow and pig pens, but no animals were in sight at the time. Right when she was about to give up on seeing more of the wolf and just lie back down, she glanced up at the barn to see small puffs of smoke coming from the second-floor window. Just as Cecilia was deducing that it must be coming from Hunter’s cigar, she saw his two yellow eyes glaring right back at her.   


The instant their gazes connected, the skunk dropped her head below the height of the windowsill. She hadn’t realized it, but she’d been holding her breath since she saw his smoke.

As much as Cecilia knew she should have nothing to fear about this guy, he still seemed weird. Perhaps she was making things weirder by dropping down into hiding when they locked eyes instead of simply waving at him, but she didn’t want to make him think she was watching him… even though she was.

After nearly a full minute of staying low, she popped her head back up to see out the window again. He was now sitting on the barn’s second-story windowsill, still smoking but no longer looking at the house. Although his eyes were focused on the field around the house, he waved at Cecilia without even turning his head to look at her. There was a smug grin on his face.   


“This man’s definitely a goddamn demon…” the skunk muttered to herself as she just waved back at him. After looking at him for a few more seconds and not having her gaze met, she just lay down in bed and tried to force herself to fall asleep in spite of the eerie wolf’s presence. At least lying down Cecilia knew that she had some privacy from the wolf on his little perch.


End file.
